YEMEN (UPI) — At least 14 refugees died at the hands of smugglers as they traveled from Somalia to Yemen, the United Nations said Tuesday.
The U.N. refugee agency said in a release issued in New York that 10 Ethiopians {www:suffocate}d when the smugglers crammed them and about 15 others in the boat’s engine room with no {www:ventilation}. Survivors claimed the bodies of the dead were tossed into the sea.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said there were reports the boat carried as many as 115 passengers as it set out early Sunday from Bossaso in northern Somalia.
Concerned the Yemeni navy would spot them, the smugglers allegedly forced the rest of the passengers to get out of the boat too far from land and four more people drowned before they could reach shore, the U.N. release said. Two of the bodies had been recovered.
“We condemn the {www:unscrupulous} and inhuman treatment of refugees and others who are desperately seeking to flee the violence, human rights abuses and seriously debilitating life options in the Horn of Africa,” said Erika Feller, assistant high commissioner for protection.
2 thoughts on “10 Ethiopians on their way to Yemen suffocated to death”
Directly or indirectly Tyrant Melese is responsible for their deaths. They died while they were trying to escape from the Hell hole of Melese. Very sad indeed.
I agree with you! It’s very sad I can just imagine what they went through to get to that boat!